SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - An emotional former President George H.W. Bush on Tuesday defended his son's Iraq ( news - web sites ) war and lashed out at White House critics.

It is "deeply offensive and contemptible" to hear "elites and intellectuals on the campaign trail" dismiss progress in Iraq since last year's overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites ), the elder Bush said in a speech to the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association annual convention.

"There is something ignorant in the way they dismiss the overthrow of a brutal dictator and the sowing of the seeds of basic human freedom in that troubled part of the world," he said.

The former president appeared to fight back tears as he complained about media coverage of the younger Bush that he called "something short of fair and balanced."

"It hurts an awful lot more when it's your son that is being criticized than when they used to get all over my case," said Bush, who has often complained about media coverage of both Bush presidencies.

Iraq has been torn by violence and instability since a U.S.-led invasion last year toppled Saddam in the hunt for his alleged weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons have been found but the Bush administration says progress toward a stable democracy is being made.

The former president, who waged the first Gulf War ( news - web sites ) against Saddam in 1991, described progress in Iraq as "a miracle."

"Iraq is moving forward in hope and not sliding back into despair and terrorism," he said.

Some critics of the war say the White House focused resources on Iraq instead of the hunt for Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites ), whom Washington blames for the Sept. 11 attacks.

LARRY KING,
CNN HOST: Tonight, Barbara Bush, the former first lady and current
president's mother, her first live TV interview for her new memoir,
"Reflections: Life After the White House." She's here
for the hour, in-depth and personal. The one and only Barbara Bush
is next on LARRY KING LIVE.
We're at the beautiful Houstonian Hotel in Houston, Texas, the home
for six months of the year for Barbara Bush and her husband, the
former President George Bush. She's the author of a terrific new
memoir, "Barbara Bush: Reflections: Life After the White house."
There you see its cover. Published by Scribner.

She is our
own living Abigail Adams, wife of a president, mother of a president.

Why did you
write this?

BARBARA BUSH,
FMR. FIRST LADY: Well, I wrote it because I keep a diary. And I
wrote it because people ask us all the time, What happens to old
presidents and what do they do? Well, that's a good question. George
Bush does everything.

KING: I know.
I had lunch with him today in between traveling somewhere.

BUSH: That's
right. He makes my life sing. And a lot of funny things happen.
A lot of good things happen. And I keep a diary, so it's not too
hard.

KING: Have
you always been a diarykeeper?

BUSH: Pretty
much. Or write long letters and keep them, using that sort of as
a diary.

KING: Do you
look back often at what you wrote 10 years...

BUSH: No.
No -- and I'm sort of surprised. I forget, needless to say.

But what it
really reminds me, Larry, is that I'm the world's luckiest woman.
I've had the most wonderful experiences, and I -- one day, I woke
up, and I looked at the television. I had met, in the two hours
of whatever morning show I was watching -- I'd met every single
person on that show except for Yasser Arafat, who I then later met.

I mean, George
Bush has brought me that kind of life. So it was sort of fun to
write.

KING: Blessings.

BUSH: That's
right.

KING: You
-- it has been said in the "Newsweek" article that they
had to take quite a few things out of the book.

BUSH: I read
that, and now -- that really wasn't quite true. They were protecting
me from being sued. But...

KING: Were
you pretty rough on some people?

BUSH: No,
I really wasn't. But they just wanted to be sure that -- today is
such a suing world. And having written a book 10 years ago, when
nobody hardly mentioned being sued, suddenly -- are you sure that's
true? And I said, no, I'm not sure it's true, but it's true according
to my diary. And we were very -- we checked our facts very carefully.

I thought
that was sort of a funny statement because, in truth, I don't really
think that was (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

KING: And
you can also -- I mean, you're critical of some people. And you
can have opinions about them.

BUSH: That's
right.

KING: You
wouldn't be Barbara Bush without opinions, would you?

BUSH: No.
You wouldn't be Larry without opinions, would you, Larry?

KING: You
have to have them. How else do we exist?

BUSH: That's
right.

KING: You
have to have opinions. But you don't slander anybody.

BUSH: No,
I don't think so.

KING: All
right.

Your recent
comments on the Democratic presidential...

BUSH: Isn't
that funny? I knew that was going to come up.

KING: Oh,
I want to discuss a lot of things. You said so far, they're a pretty
sorry group.

BUSH: Well,
you know, mothers are allowed to be proud of their sons. And it
gets a little old when 10 grown men run around the country not talking
about what they're going to do, but knocking my precious, courageous,
brilliant son. That's a mother speaking.

KING: What's
the biggest difference from being the husband -- being the wife
of a president and the mother of a president?

BUSH: Well,
first of all, you have to watch the father of the president suffer.
And it hurts when your children are criticized. It hurts a lot.

KING: He takes
it badly?

BUSH: He and
I both do. He -- he curses, and I grit my teeth.

But, no, he
really -- he knows that's the name of the game. But it gets pretty
ugly.

KING: But
was it harder for you...

BUSH: Much.

KING: ...when
he -- when the current president is criticized than when the husband
was criticized?

BUSH: Right.

KING: How
do you explain it -- motherly?

BUSH: Motherly.
And fatherly. I mean, that's just a normal reaction.

But the same would
be true if something happened that was difficult for Jeb or for
Doro or Neil or Marvin. And you can criticize me, but don't criticize
my children and don't criticize my daughters-in-law and don't criticize
my husband, or you're dead.